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August – 29

TNPSC BITS

 Former India opener Lalchand Rajput has been appointed as the head coach of Zimbabwe’s national team.  Tamil Nadu Corporation is going to convert the ‘Service Lane’ in Marina Beach and Elliot’s Beach as Paid Parking Zone’.  The 22nd Youth Parliament competition was held at Jawahar Navodya Vidyalya Basohli at Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir. The event was organised by Navodaya Vidhlaya Samiti, Chandigarh region.  The Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has released the Book ‘Colonial Syndrome: The Videshi Mind Set in Modern India’, written by Prof. Rama Krishna Rao, in Vishakhapattanam, Andhra Pradesh. o The book highlights the distinct difference or disconnect between native Indian ethos and present state.  The National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) has started a helpline, 011- 21400643, to encourage consumers to file complaints against the companies that are not passing GST rate cut benefits.  Scotland became the first country in the world to give out free sanitary napkins to all the students of its schools, colleges and universities.  Prashant Agrawal has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Namibia.  Sandeep Kumar has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Ireland.  North Korea is going to host Asian youth and Junior weightlifting championships, 2019 which will be commencing from October 27, 2019 in Pyongyang.

TAMIL NADU

Sorkuvai Scheme

 Tamil Nadu government is going to launch a ‘Sorkuvai’ scheme.  The scheme will link all the Tamil words and English words as per their original ‘meanings’ apart from linking the ‘Most Searched’ words with pictographic images.

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India’s tallest film studio

 Tamil Nadu Chief Minister inaugurated India’s tallest film studio ‘MGR Centenary Film Studio’ in Kalaignar city, Paiyanur.  The 56 feet tall, 110 meters long and 100 feet wide studio was constructed using funds collected by the Federation of Film Employees Union of South India (FEFSI), at Paiyanur.

NATIONAL

FAME India – II

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the second phase of the FAME India scheme on September 7, offering incentives for mass adoption of electric vehicles.  The scheme would be unveiled at the inaugural session of the ‘MOVE’ -- a global mobility summit to be organized at New Delhi.  The first phase of the scheme was initially proposed for two years till March 31, 2017, but was extended twice for six months up to March 31, 2018.  FAME India Scheme which stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles.  It was launched in 2015 under National Electric Mobility Mission (NEMM), strives at promoting eco-friendly vehicles in the country and is looked by Heavy Industries Ministry.

E21 campaign

 The Entrepreneur Cell (E-Cell) of the Indian Institute Technology (IIT) Madras has launched the 'E21' campaign to provide students with the skills to handle the challenges of the 21st Century.  Its objective is to focus on skills such as innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship, leadership, and risk-taking among 150 students from various schools in Chennai.

Government announces Regulations for Drones

 The Ministry of Civil Aviation has notified the ‘Regulations for civil use of remotely piloted aircraft system’ i.e., Drones.  

 For registering and operating drones, India has formulated an all-digital process, The Digital Sky Platform.  It is the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that implements “No Permission, No Takeoff” (NPNT).

 Airspace has been partitioned into o Red Zone (flying not permitted), o Yellow Zone (controlled airspace), and o Green Zone (automatic permission).  The drones are categorized into Nano, Micro, Small, Medium and Large.  All drones, except nano and those owned by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence agencies, will be issued a “unique identification number” (UIN)  The Drone Task Force has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Minister of State Shri Jayant Sinha and he will provide draft recommendations for Drone Regulations 2.0.

Injeti Srinivas Committee

 The Injeti Srinivas Committee, constituted by the government of India, has submitted its report to the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs.  The committee was constituted to review framework dealing with offenses under the Companies Act, 2013.  The main recommendations include, o Restructuring of Corporate Offences to relieve Special Courts from adjudicating routine offenses o The existing rigor of the law should continue for serious offenses. o lapses that are essentially technical or procedural in nature may be shifted to in-house adjudication process.

ECONOMY

Goldman Sachs appoints Prachi Mishra as MD & CIE

 Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has appointed Prachi Mishra as the managing director and chief India economist.  

 Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mishra was the deputy division chief of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  Goldman Sachs has been operating in India since 2004 when it first opened its office in Bengaluru.  However, the company has been serving Indian clients since 1990s and is an active investor in the country.

RBI’s report on Educational Loans

 A recent report by RBI shows that a large part of lending to the education sector in the country has been done by public sector banks. o The share of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in lending to the education sector is 91.42%.  It shows that students in southern states, in the order of, o Tamil Nadu, o Kerala, o Karnataka, o Andhra Pradesh pursue their studies by taking education loans more than students in the rest of the country.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

New online portal launched - GAIL

 The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development & Entrepreneurship has launched a new online portal, www.gailonline.com  It is the first of its kind in the natural gas sector of the country.  It strives to enable easy, efficient and transparent booking of common carrier capacity for natural gas transmission services under GAIL’s pipelines  It is the first step to facilitate gas trading on a hub or exchange-traded platform in India.  It provides gas consumers the facility to register pipeline capacity bookings “online” on a first-come-first-serve basis.  

CBSE launches Digital Academic Repository

 The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) along with National e- Governance Division has developed ‘Parinam Manjusha’, digital academic repository.  It acts as a digital repository to provide digital mark sheets, migration certificates and pass certificates to students from CBSE-affiliated schools in Kerala, whose academic documents have been lost or damaged in the recent floods.  This academic repository has been integrated with DigiLocker.  The students can visit https://digitallocker.gov.in and https://digitallocker.gov.in and download their academic documents using the login-id / password  The digital academic documents are digitally signed by the Controller of Examinations of CBSE which make them legally valid digital document as per the IT Act.  These documents are also having QR codes and such documents can be verified for the authenticity using the DigiLocker mobile app.

STATES

'Mu Hero Mu Odisha'

 Odisha Chief Minister has launched the 'Mu Hero Mu Odisha' (I am hero; I am Odisha) campaign to recognize exemplary works by Odia boys and girls towards social transformation.  The aim of this initiative is to identify the potential among the youth and recognize them in society.

PERSONALITIES, AWARDS AND EVENTS

Assistant Secretary-General of UNEP - Satya S. Tripathi

 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Satya S. Tripathi of India as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  

 He will succeed Elliott Harris of Trinidad and Tobago. Tripathi becomes the 3rd Indian to be appointed at the senior levels of UN.

 Mr. Tripathi has since 2017 served as Senior Adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at UNEP.  Previously, he was the Director and Executive Head of the United Nations Office for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD).  Atul Khare, the Under-Secretary-General who heads the Department of Operational Services, is the senior-most Indian at the UN.

SPORTS

Belgian Grand Prix

 Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel beat the Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix.  

 Netherlands Max Verstappen finished third place for Red Bull  This was Ferrari’s first win here since 2009.

Most economical bowler in the T20 history

 Pakistan fast bowler has set a new record of being the most economical bowler in the T20 history.

 He has achieved the figures of 4-3-1-2, bowling 23 dot balls, while playing for Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League 2018  

 This record was previously shared by South Africa’s and ’s Chanaka Welegedara (2 for 2)

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